Circuit-closer



(No Model.)

C. B. BOSWORTH.

CIRCUIT CLOSER.

No. 374,036. Patented Nov. 29, 1887.

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PATENT YCHARLES BOSWORTH, OF EVERETT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOTHE ELECTRIC GAS LIGHTING COMPANY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

CIRCUIT-CLOSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,036, dated November 29, 1887.

Application filed August 23, 1886. Serial No. 211,640. (No model.)

To all whom it may cncerm Beit known that I, CHARLES B. BosWoRTH, of Everett, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Circuit Closers, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

` My invention relates to a circuit-closer or ro push-button such as employed in a building for closing an electric circuit for various purposes, being shown as embodied in a double circuit-closer such as commonly employed with automatic gas-lighters for lighting and turning oft' gas at a distant burner.

The present invention is embodied in a circuit-c1oser having a supporting frame or plate adapted to be fastened to a wall or other part of the building, and having at its rear a projecting ridge that receives within it a piece of insulating material, upon which the members of the circuit-closer are supported in such manner that they are inclosed between the plate and the insulating material and wholly protected from the access of foreign matter, the permanent Wire-connections only being made at the outside of or rear of the device. The push-buttons have stems that are guided in recesses in the insulating material, and the circuitclosingsprings are arranged to make a rubbing contact.

Figure lis a front view of a circuitcloser embodying this invention; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section thereof on line m x, Fig. l, and Fig. 3 a face View of the insulating support and contact-springs thereon removed from the main frame-plate of .the device.

rIhe device consists, essentially, of a frameplate, a, which may be of metal and of ornasuch as screw-holes, a', to facilitate the fastening of the apparatus to a wall or other part of the building. The said plate a has countersunk openings a2, that receive the push-buttons 5o buttons, which have below the insulating-head,

mental appearance, provided with devices,

a body, c3, of metal or conducting material. The plate a is provided at the rear side with a projecting flange, a3. (Shown as formed integral with the said plate, and inclosing a rectangular space at the rear thereof.) Within the iiange as is fitted a block or supporting-piece,

d, of insulating material, which fills and tits closely within the projection a3, as shown in Fig. 2, to which it is fastened by screws d. A tight chamber, c, is thus formed at the rear of 6o the plate a within the flange a and between the plate a and insulatingblock d,which chamber contains the contact-springs ff f2, (see Fig. 3,) between which the circuit is to be established by the movement of the buttons c c'. 65 The said buttons are provided with stems c4, that work in guide-passages d2 in the block d, and the mem-bers f f 2 of the two circuitclosers consist of iiat springs fastened by bolts g g2 upon the block d, the free ends of the said 7o springs normally rising up from thevblock d, and having laterally-projecting fingers f3 f4, that extend under the contact portion c3 of the push-buttons, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, thus maintaining electrical contact with the said push-buttons, and at the same time holding the said push-buttons as far forward as permitted by the flanges cl in the openings of the plate a. The other member, f, common to both circuitclosers, consists of a spring fastened at its mid- 8o dle by a bolt, g, to the block d, and having its ends spring up slightly from the said block, as shown in Fig. 2, but not far enough to reach the under side of the metallic portion ca of the pushbuttons,when thelatter are held forward 85 or elevated by the springsff Vhen, however, either one of the buttons c or c is pushed inward or depressed by the operator, the metallic portion c3 thereof will come in contact with the adjacent end ofthe spring f, which, 9o

opposite side of the said insulating-block, and it will be seen that when the projecting port-ion a3 at the rear side of the plate a is let into the wall there is no danger of anything interfering with the action of the springs that are inelosed and protected,and the operation of said springs cannot Vbe affected by dust or other material, as is the case when the said springs are at the rear or outer side of the insulating-block, and operate with direct pressure instead of rubbing contact.

v I claim- The combination of the frameplate a and push-button working in an opening therein, composed of an insulating portion outside of the plate and a conducting portion inside of the plate, and a guiding-stem projecting there from, with a block of insulating material fastened to the rear of the said plate, and circuitcloser composed of two spring members form- 2o ing the terminals of the circuit to be controlled and being fastened on said block between it and the frame-plate, one of said springs acting continuously on the metallic portion of the push-button,which, when depressed, makes a rubbing contact with the other spring and completes the electrical connection between the springs, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub- 3o scribing witnesses.

OHAS. B. BOSWORTH.

Witnesses:

Jos. P. LIVERMORE, H. P. BATES. 

